On Friday night, No. 1 Stanford (24-0, 14-0 Pac-12) just kept adding names to its list of vanquished foes with a win over No. 16 Arizona (18-7, 7-6). Arizona proved to be another highly competitive team, as demonstrated in the five-set thriller. The Cardinal had a lot on the line, considering the high stakes of keeping their undefeated streak and top-ranked spot in the NCAA. Nevertheless, Stanford emerged victorious (25-20, 23-25, 25-16, 22-25, 15-9), adding another win to its undefeated streak.
The first set started off with kills by junior outside hitter Brittany Howard and junior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku, putting the Cardinal up 2-1. Arizona tried to break Stanford’s cycle, but a strong block by Ajanaku and junior setter Madi Bugg determined otherwise. Arizona’s offense was able to squeeze in kills to tie up the set at 4-4. However, service errors and a block by junior outside hitter Jordan Burgess pushed Stanford to a two-point lead. Arizona then came back with a service ace and kills from its outside hitters to force a significant lead change with the Cardinal trailing by two at 8-10.
However, Stanford remained ambitious, with junior opposite Morgan Boukather and sophomore middle blocker Merete Lutz hitting impressive kills to halt Arizona’s momentum. Soon, the Cardinal took back the lead with a nice block by Ajanaku and Bugg and strategic kills from Ajanaku, Burgess and Howard, setting the score at 15-13 before the first timeout of the match was called.
Post-timeout, the Cardinal did well in maintaining their lead by one or two points, benefiting off Arizona’s service errors and a kill by Bugg and a block by Howard and Lutz. However, Arizona managed to come back with kills from its own offensive players from the outside, tying the set back up at 19-19 before Stanford called its first timeout.
The timeout gave Stanford the chance to slow down the momentum of Arizona and propel fiery attacks from Boukather and Burgess, pushing Stanford to a four-point lead by set point. Ajanaku’s powerhouse kill secured Stanford’s win of the first set.
The second set saw Arizona shaping up its defense into a tighter unit, only allowing one kill from Burgess while going on a 5-1 run of its own before Stanford called a timeout. Stanford picked up its momentum with Burgess fining small openings in the defense to make cross-court kills for the Cardinal, decreasing Arizona’s lead to three points. From then on, Stanford fought on with kills from Ajanaku, Boukather, Howard and Lutz, reaching a tie at 19-19. The Cardinal and Wildcats went point for point, but Arizona was able to get on top, winning the second set and leveling the match at 1-1.
The third set had similar beginnings to the second. Stanford, learning from its mistakes in the second set, was able to take control of the situation in order to gain control of and dominate the majority of the plays of the game. In turn, Arizona started to make mistakes in its defensive tactics and offensive attacks. Through these measures, the Cardinal eventually went on a 7-1 run to win the third set. Arizona once again came back in the fourth set, which remained tight and intense until the end, forcing a decisive fifth set.
In the fifth set, Ajanaku and Howard made a strong block to gain the first point for Stanford. Burgess shined with stellar kill after kill, shrugging off the few plays Arizona made to stop her. She made good use of the angles of the court and line shots to put the Cardinal up big early at 7-4 to force an Arizona timeout. Burgess promptly made two kills out of the break to up the score to 9-4.
Arizona attempted to make another comeback, but the Cardinal did not budge this time. Howard targeted good spots on the court for more kills, bringing the game to match point. The final kill from Howard locked in another victory for Stanford, leaving the team in the top spot in the NCAA.
Burgess led the team with a whopping, career-high 27 kills and a solid .375 hitting percentage.
“The reason that I had so many openings was that our middles [Ajanaku and Lutz] are so good,” said Burgess to the Pac-12 Networks. “It’s like a blessing to be able to play on a team like that. Plus, Madi [Bugg] is really good at distributing it to everyone and stays hot the whole time.”
She also recorded 10 digs, marking her 15th double-double of the season. Ajanaku and Howard also entered the double digits for kills with 16 and 10, respectively. Boukather scored nine kills and logged 24 digs for the game, matching Bugg, who also made 58 assists. Senior libero Kyle Gilbert totaled an astounding 40 digs.
Stanford will next head down to Los Angeles this week to play against USC and UCLA on Wednesday and Thursday night, respectively. The matches will be broadcasted at 7:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks.
Contact Divine Edem at dedem ‘at’ stanford.edu.